San Francisco Will Pay Artists $1,000 a Month in Universal Basic Income

 

Jordan Silva

Economic Freedom

Dr. Eubanks

Blog 4

 

San Francisco Will Pay Artists $1,000 a Month in Universal Basic Income

            The idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI) has become increasingly more popular. This article talks about how San Francisco is trying out the UBI for local artists. Some positive aspects to the UBI are, the money can be spent on anything, there are no requirements to report income changes like other current programs, and during a pandemic it would help keep the economy rolling. However, UBI has some negative aspects as well. Since San Francisco’s proposed UBI is only benefiting local artists it obviously fails at being universal. Another issue with their UBI is how will the government officials decide if a person is an artist or not. San Francisco needs make the UBI beneficial to more people.

            UBI is a great idea, and if implemented correctly would benefit every individual without putting constraints on how they must live their life in order to receive benefits. For the proponents who say it gives people a disincentive to work I find it to be the opposite. According to The World Economic Forum, “conditional welfare assistance creates a disincentive to work through removal of benefits in response to paid work. If accepting any amount of paid work will leave someone on welfare barely better off, or even worse off, what’s the point? With basic income, all income from paid work (after taxes) is earned as additional income so that everyone is always better off in terms of total income through any amount of employment – whether full time, part time or gig. Thus, basic income does not introduce a disincentive to work. It removes the existing disincentive to work that conditional welfare creates.” (Scott Santens). The current programs such as welfare are just another way for the government to stifle creativity by pushing others around or else the benefits will be taken away. Letting people spend the money on whatever they want, gives them a freedom they otherwise would be without if on welfare or other programs. Having the security of knowing you have a certain amount of income no matter what would change people lives for the better.

            A perfect example of UBI and its benefits can be found in Alaska. “Since 1982, the state has given each citizen an annual check just for being alive, effectively wiping out extreme poverty. The money — which can range from around $2,000 per person when oil prices are high to $1,000 in cheaper gas years — comes from the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-owned investment fund financed by oil revenues.” (Segal Samuel).

 

 

Works Cited

1.      Santens, Scott. "Why we should all have a basic income." weforum.org, 15 Jan. 2017, www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/why-we-should-all-have-a-basic-income/.

2.      Samuel, Sigal. "Everywhere basic income has been tried, in one map." vox.com, 20 Oct. 2020, www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/19/21112570/universal-basic-income-ubi-map.